Wunderkind filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou are back to offer another nasty horror tale with Bring Her Back. Leaving any vestiges of playfulness and levity behind with their debut film Talk to Me, we get a far darker, deeply unsettling, exploration of grief. Featuring impressive practical makeup effects, a relatively solid script, and a trio of outstanding performances, the Philippou’s overcome the sophomore slump and prove that they have a keen sense of how to get under your skin.
Andy (Billy Barratt) and his younger sister Piper (Sora Wong) suffer unimaginable loss at the beginning of the film that lands them at the mercy of the foster care system. With just three months until his 18th birthday, Andy is hoping to bide his time and soon take care of his visually impaired sibling, creating a new life for them both. Refusing to be separated Andy and Piper are sent to live with the gregarious, unpredictable Laura (Sally Hawkins) who welcomes the two, but who has a clear preference for Piper. They are also introduced to Laura’s other child Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) who is non-verbal. With an empty pool out back, the dead family dog stuffed and on display on the living room, and the general unease that comes with the pretense that everything is okay, Andy and Piper settle in for a minimum of three months with Oliver and Laura. If only it were that simple.
Right away Laura gets to work. She gloms onto Piper with nauseating charm and frivolity. With Andy, she relegates him to a barely furnished sewing room and makes it a habit of invading his privacy at every turn. As we are following this story we are occasionally reminded of Oliver, the other kid in the house. This kid is weird and, at the top of the film, has to have the family cat wrestled from his iron grip. Along the way we are treated to grainy VHS footage depicting some sort of ritual that only gets worse the more we see of it. Things are not okay and Andy begins to suspect as much. If only he had listened to his intuition.
The Philippou’s have zero F’s to give here in regards to taboos. Bring Her Back features child exploitation and endangerment that makes Night of the Hunter look like a bedtime story. It features mental and emotional abuse that makes Mommy Dearest look like a cautionary tale. It features animal abuse, that makes Cannibal Holocaust look like… well, no it’s not that bad. The point is that for all of the darker areas that Philippou’s explore they have a reason to go there. You can want to mine the depths of depravity, but if you don’t know why you take the journey it comes off as cheap and exploitative.
It helps that along with the practical effects, the Philippou’s lean on the talent of their leads. A visually impaired actor, Wong is a joy to watch. Barratt is spot on as the tortured older sibling hoping to somehow protect his sister from the world. Phillips haunts the screen with a pair of eyes and virtually no words at all. The film, however, belongs to Oscar Nominee Hawkins who leans into the cruel pathos of her character. Hawkins is the singular most powerful practical effect in the film.
As far as the script goes, Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman keep the queasy feeling of anxiety going while not forgetting the emotional notes between Andy and Piper going to justify our interest. My one qualm is that we are never really sure just how Laura has come to learn her particular set of skills or how the process works. I suppose that is for repeat viewings to reveal.
With Bring Her Back, Danny and Michael Philippou show that they have a taste for the unsettling and an understanding of the utility of Horror. God help us all when they mature as filmmakers.
